Looks like our old friend Allen Stanford is having some trouble finding a lawyer.
Two high-profile white-collar crime attorneys, including the man who represents Karl Rove, are trying to make sure they don’t get roped into defending the cricket-loving billionaire — who’s accused of orchestrating an $8 billion fraud — without a guarantee of payment.
The Houston Chronicle reports that last Friday, Dick DeGuerin, the heavy-hitting Houston defense attorney who has been working with Stanford for several months, asked the judge in the case to let him withdraw, because Stanford couldn’t assure him he’d be paid for future work.
Stanford had earlier issued a press release saying he’d replaced DeGuerin with Robert Luskin, Rove’s lawyer on the US attorney firings and other controversies.
But in an email to the Chronicle sent yesterday, Luskin wrote:
As with Mr. DeGuerin, we’re not willing or able to prepare an adequate defense for Mr. Stanford without assurances that we can be paid. We’re working on various means to bring this matter before the court.
Since the judge ruled yesterday that DeGuerin can’t withdraw unless another lawyer agrees “unconditionally” to replace him, DeGuerin is still technically on the case.
The day last year when Stanford landed in a helicopter at London’s Lord’s cricket ground, carrying a gold-plated briefcase full of cash to announce a deal for a tournament must seem long, long ago.